500 FT EAST OF BELL ST AND VALLEY ROAD
The Potosi Site encompasses an area greater than 45 square miles in the eastern portion of Washington County, Missouri. It primarily includes residential areas within and around the communities of Potosi, Cadet, Mineral Point, Springtown, Happy Hollow, Shibboleth, Summit, and other smaller communities, and is a portion of the larger Washington County Lead Mining District. The Potosi Site is mostly residential, although a number of commercial businesses are present. Soil and/or groundwater contamination by arsenic, barium, cadmium, and lead at the Potosi Site is most likely the result of lead and barite mining, milling, and smelting. Continuous lead mining began in Washington County in 1721 at the surface and near-surface (ten feet or less below ground surface (bgs)) in an area north of Potosi. Galena, the main lead ore, was mined in both the red clay residuum, which generally ranged from a few feet to over 30 feet thick, and the underlying dolomite bedrock. Barite (barium sulfate), another local mineral, became valuable after the Civil War and barite mining began to boom in the area in 1926. Remnants of mining activities throughout the area include strip mines, mineshafts, mine dumps, tailing areas, tailings ponds, and associated dams. There are numerous large tailings impoundments, associated dams, and leachate ponds with elevated levels of lead in surface soil present at the site.
2,961 |
People living within a 1 mile radius |
$40,135 |
Average Income |
1,321 |
Occupied homes |
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